Sprinklers for Barn Roof

[Amwrider]

It is hotter n blazes out here today and the horses are in their stalls, under their fans and still sweating. Unfortunately the barn I lease has a low roof so it traps heat and it is also a galvanized metal roof.

Does anyone use a roof sprinkler to help dissipate heat from the roof of their barn? Any tips or hints? Will it rust out my roof too quickly? I would just set it to sprinkle periodically durig the heat of the day.

[mroades]

I was thinking about doing the same thing for the same reasons? Anyone else?

[OkLurchers]

How about installing a couple of turbines in the roof instead? That'd be cheaper and will pull the hot air out constantly. We installed 2 in one of our barns. Easy to do & since they're not electric (they work via wind) they cost $0 to operate.

[MunchkinsMom]

My neighbor has a metal roof on her barn, and she had some sort of stickon foam insulation installed to the underside, and it really does help keep it cooler in her barn.

Since you are leasing the barn, will you have to check with the owner before making any improvements?

[mroades]

I lease too...sigh

[silver2]

Seconding the suggestion for turbines, they work really well. If you don't want to cut holes in the roof try an exhaust fan set high on one wall and some vents low on the other side. Look at the ones designed for greenhouses, they work very well and do not cost anything to run.

Sprinklers sound pretty wasteful and expensive in comparison. I think you'd only be cooling the roof very briefly and wouldn't affect the inside of the barn much at all.

[Amwrider]

The setup I have is a back to back shedrow, 10 stalls on each side. The peak of the roof is maybe only 12' high. I don't think it is set up where I could put an exhaust fan and I don't see turbines being an option since it would involve cutting into the roof.

My plan with the sprinklers is to wet the roof briefly a couple of times each hour. The evaporation on top of the roof would dissipate the heat building up under the roof, therefore the fans in the stall wouldn't simply be blowing hot air at the horses.

Today the temperature was 95 degrees and the heat index made it feel like 120 degrees according to what I heard on the car radio going to visit my dad.

As for wasting water, I had one horse suck down 6 buckets of water yesterday. Most of the horses were drinking 3-4 buckets. Their usual intake is 1.5 to 2 buckets a day so I would rather spend the extra water cooling the roof an then the horses may go back to drinking their normal amount of water.

This is the long-low building I have to work with, note the height at the center, especially the breezeway photo which puts it into perspective.

I don't remember the last summers being like this, this is my 4th summer at this location. I can only hope that the afternoon rains start to kick in soon.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v299/amwrider/barnfromsouth.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v299/amwrider/breezeway.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v299/amwrider/bridge.jpg

[fourmares]

Yes, putting a sprinkler on the roof will lower the temperature in the barn. I've been in an aviary that did that it worked quite well. Doing so is no worse for the barn than any day that it rains. If you have gutters you might consider capturing the water in rain barrels so that you can use it to water trees, or something. The big heavey duty 55 gallon plastic barrels can have a spigot installed in the bottom.

[BasqueMom]

I've thought about doing that also--have a shedrow barn, metal, metal. Don't use the
stalls on the back side. Have taken windows out between the front and back stalls
and have fans in each plus another one that blows sideways.

Tried a big orange Home Depot fan with a misting ring to blow under the overhang but
they were less than impressed and hardly ever stood in front of it.

We tried a misting system along the edge of the overhang like we had in Colorado but
it's so humid here, it didn't seem very effective.

[suzyq]

Insulation on the underside of the roof is great. I have a metal roofed barn in Houston and it stays cool with the insulation. Mine was put in when it was built, it looks like plastic bags with insulation inside. I'm sure you could go to a home supply store and someone could direct you to something that's not too hard to install.

I also have a couple of cupolas on the roof, so air can get through but there's not a turbine or fan or anything like that.

[sidepasser]

The only problem with turbines (mechanical ones) is if you have no breeze (like this past weekend here where I live in Ga), the things just sit and do nothing.

What you can do is get a turbine (mechanical) and put it in - or.. add a fan to a non mechanical one.

My barn was hot as blazes yesterday, I turned on the misting system every hour for 5 minutes and the horses sat in front of their fans. I took both out of the stalls at around 2:00 and cold hosed them, sweat scraped them down and put them back in front of their fans.

My roof is 14 feet at the apex with stall walls 10 feet high and have four foot windows front and back with grilled stall doors - lots of air flow, but unfortunately it is still very hot. Rode by the bank at 3:30 yesterday and it said 104 F..arrgghh

I suggest if you can, add turbines that are mechanical, also you may want to add those vents to the upper gables - you can install fans in those as well to draw the heat out.

A ridge vent would be a great thing, but if you don't own the facility, then that is too much money.

Watering the roof will help, but I think I would look at a longer term solution if you plan to stay there. If leasing would the owner help with some of the costs to alleviate the heat? It would only help the property value and also make the place easier to lease should you decide to leave.

Insulation is a good thing, but can be expensive depending on the type. Look up KoolSeal, it is made for metal roofs and I've heard good things about it. Here's a link:

http://www.koolseal.com/product_family.asp?family=aluminum

[OkLurchers]

Now that it's >95 with >100 heat index, I tied back my solid stall doors & put up stall guards instead. Then I put fans (kind on rollers from Home Depot/Tractor Supply) in front of each stall door blowing in to supplement the fans (big metal ones from Tractor Supply/Ace Hardware/Sam's) in their stalls. This is the 2nd summer I've done this & it's worked a treat so far. Would that be an option for your most miserable horse? I only have 3, so it's doable for me, but I can see why people with lots of horses might not find this a viable option.

[mroades]

My barn is old and crappy, so any kind of improvement is out of the question. I am going to put a sprinkler on the roof tonight and see what happens!

[SGray]

you can run a weep-hose up there -- turn water on low and watch - you'll want to set it so that most of the water evaporates, maybe just a little runs off -- will lower the temps inside by up to 20-25 degrees depending on humidity

[Amwrider]

My barn is old and crappy, so any kind of improvement is out of the question. I am going to put a sprinkler on the roof tonight and see what happens!

:D

[Amwrider]

My father is a manager at a a ginormous plumbing supply warehouse so he can get the pvc pipes and sprinkler heads for me at cost. He came over tonight for a quick look and to see what the water pressure is. Looks like we will be busy this weekend.

I ended up hand-watering the roof around noon to give the horses some relief.

I agree that the sprinkler is no worse than rain, matter of fact once our part of FL gets into its regular summer rainfall pattern, I won't need to sprinkle the roof.

[Guilherme]

Why not turnout in a paddock with some trees? Or get some sunscreen material from FarmTek and set up a paddock with some some "run-ins"?

Watering the roof will cool the interior, but it's an expensive "fix."

If you want to keep them in I'd talk to your Extension office about ventilation options. You may find a type of passive "turbo-vent" that will work effectively.

Good luck in whatever you do.

G.

[Amwrider]

No trees in my paddocks, I do night turnout in the summer.

[MunchkinsMom]

From the photo, are the ends of the roof open? Perhaps you could install some vent fans on either end if it is already open, to help draw some of the hot air outside.

Not cheap, but you can even find solar powered ones online, and if you were to move you could take them with you.